Foreign Policy Decisions

Things are not going well in America or in thecworld.

Like many others, I suspect, I am numb.

I am numb from seeing Israel commit war crimes on a daily basis in Gaza, and acquiescing in if not fomenting settler violence against in the West Bank.

I am numb from observing America’s complicity in these Israeli war crimes.

I am numb from all of Joe Biden’s talk of peace, coupled with his absolute refusal to use the instruments of American power to bring about that peace.

I am numb from all of the talk about a ceasefire and release if Israeli hostages deal, the evil ploy used by Israel to hold out hope while it continues to kill thousands of civilians in Gaza, and while Benjamin Netanyahu deliberately acts to kill any ceasefire and release of hostages deal whenever negotiations appear tantalizing close to agreement.

I am tired of Joe Biden’s endless assertions that he is pressuring Israel to kill fewer civilians, as he approves a $20 billion military aid package without effective limits, without even those proscribed American law which prohibit arms transfers when they might be used in ways other than self-defense–as defined by international law and the U.N. Charter.

I am numb from watching the horror show in Gaza, and the horror show in the White House where the president will not withhold the U.S. vet in the U.N. Security Council to allow it to take effective action by, e.g., imposing sanctions on Israel for its blockade and other war crimes in Gaza.

I am numb from watching Joe Biden impose prohibitions on the use by Ukraine of weapons supplied by NATO countries against targets in Russia when such action is fully justified under the international law of self-defense and the United Nations Charter.

I am numb from listening to specious justification for such restrictions, with the armchair warriors in U.S. military ranks telling the Ukrainians the weapons would not be effective despite Ukraine’s urgent and repeated pleas for such weapons.

I am numb from observing Joe Biden’s cowardice since February, 2022, always withholding needed weapons for as long as he can before the unity in the NATO alliance breaks.

I am numb from the cowardice that assumes this is UkrIne’s war, not our war, as the world faces the greatest challenge to civilization and the international legal order since World War II.

Finally, I am numb as I watch half the people in the United States abandon reason and surrender to the cult of Donald Trump and the gowing fascist movement in the United States.

I am numb as I see the formation of a powerful alliance between so-called “low-information voters” and highly educated business people, often billionaires or very wealthy individuals who cynically support the Leader, believing as they did in Germany that they could control the fascists.

What are “low-information voters”? They are the voters who with their cynical business allies would again elect Donald Trump, who charitably might be called the ultimate “low information president”.

Yet let us dig further. What, really, is a low-information voter? He is a voter who has not taken the trouble to investigate the facts regarding different candidates, being content to gonwith the mass emotions of his tribe.

Us it not a civic duty in a democracy to inform onesel about tge candidates and the issues?

The media will not call out these low-information voters as lazy or stupid people, because they depend on selling soap and other advertised hoods and services to these same voters.

Who came up with such a marvelous euphemism as the “low-information voter”?

Well, I’m numb from all of the above.

The future of American democracy, as well as the strategic coherence of U.S. foreign policy, now depends on the have of tge American electorate who might still be able to think and act in a rational manner if tgey can only wake up from the torpor of their curren numbness, and act to save the Republic.

1) Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, “Putin’s silent killer is choking Ukraine’s regiments; The use of gas in Ukraine’s trenches can be countered with British equipment aid,” The Telegraph, September 3, 2024 (7:00 a.m.);

1) “Russische Armee rückt in Ostukraine mit hohem Tempo vor – Kiew weitet Zwangsevakuierungen aus,” DiecWelt, den 28. August 2024 (15:13);

2) “Russian army advances at high speed in eastern Ukraine – Kiev expands forced evacuations; The Ukrainian army was successful in the offensive in the Russian region of Kursk. In eastern Ukraine, Russian troops continue to advance westward. Kiev orders evacuations in 27 localities,” Die Welt, August 28, 2024 (15:13);

3) Editorial, “ATACMS and Russia’s Sanctuary; The U.S.-made missiles could hit hundreds of military targets if Biden let Ukraine use them,” Wall Street Joirnal, August 28, 2024 (5:37 p.m.);

4) ISW Press (“Institute for the Study of War), “Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 28, 2024 (7:00 p.m.);

The Institute for the Study of War reportsbthat the U.S. is blocking the use of British long-range Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Russia. In it’s daily update, the ISW reports:

Multiple reports from Western media indicate that the US government is prohibiting the United Kingdom (UK) from allowing Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles to strike military targets in Russia. The Financial Times (FT) reported on August 27 that a source familiar with the matter stated that Ukraine’s use of British and French Storm Shadows may require access to American intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in areas where Russian forces are jamming the GPS signals that the missiles use for targeting.[1] FT reported that “well-placed” sources stated that the UK government sent a request to both the US and France earlier in summer 2024 to grant Ukraine permission to use Western-provided weapons to strike military targets in Russia, and French President Emmanuel Macron stated in May 2024 that Ukraine should be allowed to strike military sites in Russia from which Russian forces attack Ukraine. The Telegraph reported on August 27 that the UK government supports Ukraine’s ability to strike military targets in Russia with Storm Shadow missiles but that the missiles also use unspecified, classified American systems, whose use requires US permission.[2] The Telegraph stated in a since-deleted section of its original web article that the UK has not formally asked the US to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadows to strike military targets within Russia, and that a White House source stated that the US is concerned about how the use of the missiles — even without US approval — could escalate the situation and draw the US into the war in Ukraine. The Telegraph reported that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is taking a “consultative approach” to negotiations with the US and does not want to spark a disagreement over the issue. A source in the UK government reportedly stated that Russia is aware that Ukraine is asking for permission to strike military targets in Russia, so Russia has moved its “most critical assets” out of range of long-range missile systems. ISW continues to assess that although Russian forces have moved aircraft out of range of Western-provided Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles, a significant number of Russian military objects remain within striking distance of Western weapons, restrictions on which are allowing Russian forces to leverage sanctuary space in deep rear areas within Russia to support military operations against Ukraine.[3]

Oh, what a wonderful war it is! Amateur generals in the U.S. can simulate the battlefield experience of analyzing troop movements and tge progress of battles without the risk faced by real battlefield analysts of being killed by incoming missiles.

This game of war is far more exciting than any game of football. Analysts cheer their team on, without having to face the hard realities of war–deal soldiers and civilians, mangled bodies, destroyed homes, town and cities–all without having to put any skin in the game.

If Russian aggression Ukraine has unleashed a battle save civikization, American observers are content to fight this desperate war down to the last Ukrainian soldier and civilian. As long as they don’t have to get directly involved.

The cowardice of President Biden and Chancellor Olaf Schikz, staunch defenders of the policy of avoiding any actions that could lead to their countries becoming directly involved,pass without direct criticisms by the amateur generals, notwithstanding the tens of thousands of Ukrainian deaths that have resulted from their cowardice and their failure to meet the Russian threat to civilization head on.

The Trenchant Observer

1) Ben Wallace, “Putin will soon turn his war machine on Britain; The Kremlin holds us responsible for its failures and will, at some point, attempt to exact its revenge,” The Telegraph, August 26, 2024 (6:00pm);

BACKGROUND

1) “Biden’s Iraq withdrawal plan is a trap for the next president; He wants to proclaim this “forever war” over, but withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq could be disastrous,” Washington Post, August 21,2024 (6:30 am EDT);

Biden’s legacy: He abandoned 40 million Afghans, including 20 Afghan girls and women, to the totalitarian rule of medieval religious fanatics.

1) Nick Corasaniti, “How a Far-Right Takeover of Georgia’s Election Board Could Swing the Election; The unelected body that shapes voting rules has a new conservative majority who question the state’s 2020 results. They now have new power to influence the results in 2024, New York Times, August 19, 2024 (pdated 8:33 a.m. ET);

2) Rachel Maddow, “Rachel Maddow: What Worries Me Most About Election Night,” New York Times, August 19, 2024 (5:02 a.m. ET);

3) Sam Levine, “‘A different level than 2020’: Trump’s plan to steal election is taking shape,” The Guardian, August 12, 2024 (06:00 EDT).

1) Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, “Ukraine has called Putin’s nuclear bluff; Timid Western leaders must seize the rare opportunity offered by Ukraine’s bold masterstroke,” The Telegraph, August 15, 2024 (1:41 pm);

2) julian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt “Ukraine’s Incursion Into Russia Reveals a Dramatic Shift; The offensive was developed in secret, devised to divertRussian troops away from the front lines in Ukraine and seize territory to use as a bargaining chip,” New York Times, August 15, 2024;

3) Francis Dearnley, “Putin is crippled by the West’s preemptive attack on Russia; Kyiv’s bold operation in Kursk has already transformed the wider conflict in ways that have not been fully appreciated, The telegraph, August 16, 2024 (5:51 pm);;

1) Tom Nichols, “The Truth About Trump’s Press Conference; His obvious emotional instability is frightening, not funny, The Atlantic, August 9, 2024 (4:15 pm ET):

1) Teven Erlanger, “Netanyahu, Defiant, Appears to Have Gone Rogue, Risking a Regional War; Ignoring the efforts of President Biden and the condemnation of many allies, the Israeli prime minister is forcing the pace of the war and feeding the revolt of the far right, New York Times, August 2, 2024 (Updated 12:32 p.m. ET).

Steven Erlanger, a former bureau chief in Israel, has spent many weeks there and in the West Bank since Oct. 7. He is the chief diplomatic correspondent of the New York Times, covering Europe. He is based in Berlin.